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A Preliminary Application of Social Cognitive Theory to Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

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Abstract

Researchers have established a relationship between exposure to nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), and increased probability of engaging in the behavior, but few have endeavored to explain the mechanisms underlying the relationship. We drew on Social Cognitive Theory to argue that core cognitions, including NSSI outcome expectancies and self-efficacy expectancies, moderate this relationship. We also explored whether knowledge about NSSI and attitudes toward the behavior played a role in this relationship. A sample of 389 university students (73.1 % female, M age = 20.90, SD = 2.36), completed online questionnaires assessing the constructs of interest. Our findings support the application of Social Cognitive Theory to better understanding NSSI, with clear links between expectancies, self-efficacy and NSSI. Further, these cognitions moderated a number of exposure-NSSI relationships. Implications of these findings for theory, research and intervention are discussed.

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Notes

  1. It is customary in Australia for students to remain at home rather than travel away to college.

  2. At the suggestion of an anonymous reviewer we conducted a parallel analysis with 1000 samples (O’Connor 2000), using R-Menu v2 in SPSS (Courtney 2013), to confirm the number of factors for extraction. Initial analysis with all 42 items suggested five factors be extracted. After removal of items with poor loadings and communalities we conducted the analyses again with the remaining 23 items; 6 factors were suggested. Examination of the factor loadings when 6 factors were requested revealed the same three factors as outlined above. The additional three factors were primarily composed of the same items but with negative factor loadings. Consequently we believe the three factors we extracted in the Exploratory Factor Analysis are an accurate representation of the factor structure of our measure.

  3. We acknowledge that the choice of alpha cut-off is completely arbitrary. We set this level to reduce Type I error but also reduce the risk of Type II error likely with more conservative (e.g., Bonferonni) adjustments (Perneger 1998; Rothman 1990).

  4. Given a large proportion of our self-injury group had not self-injured in the previous 12 months, we conducted exploratory analyses assessing differences in the cognitive variables between participants who did not self-injure, those who had not self-injured in the prior 12 months and those who had self-injured in the last year. No differences between the self-injuring groups were noted except in self-efficacy to resist NSSI.

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Author’s Contributions

P.H. conceptualised the study, oversaw data collection, analysed data and prepared sections of the written manuscript. A.R. collected data, provided intellectual input to the study and prepared sections of the written manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This study was internally funded by The School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

    Penelope Hasking & Alyssa Rose

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  1. Penelope Hasking
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  2. Alyssa Rose
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Correspondence to Penelope Hasking.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee, the National Health and Medical Research Council’s National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Hasking, P., Rose, A. A Preliminary Application of Social Cognitive Theory to Nonsuicidal Self-Injury. J Youth Adolescence 45, 1560–1574 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0449-7

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